Conjugations
All six tenses and their examples are shown below. Use the links above to jump to a tense. English translations use the meaning “to harm.”
Present Présent
Habits, current states, and actions happening now.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nuis | I harm | |
| tu | nuis | you harm | |
| il / elle / on | nuit | he / she / it harmson: we harm / one harms | |
| nous | nuisons | we harm | |
| vous | nuisez | you harm | |
| ils / elles | nuisent | they harm |
IN A SENTENCEPresent example
Le bruit nuit à la concentration des élèves.
The noise harms the pupils' concentration.
Passé composé
Completed past events, using avoir or être plus a past participle.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | ai nui | I harmed | |
| tu | as nui | you harmed | |
| il / elle / on | a nui | he / she / it harmedon: we harmed / one harmed | |
| nous | avons nui | we harmed | |
| vous | avez nui | you harmed | |
| ils / elles | ont nui | they harmed |
IN A SENTENCEPassé composé example
Hier, le bruit a nui à la concentration des élèves.
Yesterday, the noise harmed the pupils' concentration.
The passé composé uses avoir. The table shows the unmarked participle; agreement with a preceding direct object is outside this reference.
Back to tense navigation ↑Imperfect Imparfait
Past habits, descriptions, and actions in progress.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nuisais | I used to harm | |
| tu | nuisais | you used to harm | |
| il / elle / on | nuisait | he / she / it used to harmon: we used to harm / one used to harm | |
| nous | nuisions | we used to harm | |
| vous | nuisiez | you used to harm | |
| ils / elles | nuisaient | they used to harm |
IN A SENTENCEImperfect example
Autrefois, le bruit nuisait à la concentration des élèves.
Back then, the noise used to harm the pupils' concentration.
Future Futur simple
Future events and predictions.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nuirai | I will harm | |
| tu | nuiras | you will harm | |
| il / elle / on | nuira | he / she / it will harmon: we will harm / one will harm | |
| nous | nuirons | we will harm | |
| vous | nuirez | you will harm | |
| ils / elles | nuiront | they will harm |
IN A SENTENCEFuture example
Plus tard, le bruit nuira à la concentration des élèves.
Later, the noise will harm the pupils' concentration.
Conditional Conditionnel présent
Hypothetical events and polite requests.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nuirais | I would harm | |
| tu | nuirais | you would harm | |
| il / elle / on | nuirait | he / she / it would harmon: we would harm / one would harm | |
| nous | nuirions | we would harm | |
| vous | nuiriez | you would harm | |
| ils / elles | nuiraient | they would harm |
IN A SENTENCEConditional example
Le bruit nuirait à la concentration des élèves.
The noise would harm the pupils' concentration.
Present subjunctive Subjonctif présent
Dependent clauses expressing wishes, necessity, doubt, and certain feelings.
| Subject | French | English | Listen |
|---|---|---|---|
| je / j’ | nuise | (that) I harm | |
| tu | nuises | (that) you harm | |
| il / elle / on | nuise | (that) he / she / it harmson: (that) we harm / one harms | |
| nous | nuisions | (that) we harm | |
| vous | nuisiez | (that) you harm | |
| ils / elles | nuisent | (that) they harm |
IN A SENTENCEPresent subjunctive example
Il est possible que le bruit nuise à la concentration des élèves.
It is possible that the noise harms the pupils' concentration.
French forms omit the subject. Use j’ before a vowel sound. Vous is polite singular or plural “you”; on often means “we,” or the general “one.” English wording depends on the context: passé composé can also use “have,” and the imperfect can describe an ongoing action. Subjunctive translations here follow “it is possible that.”
Meaning & usage
- to harm, to spoil
English glosses are a starting point. The meaning of a verb can change with context, a preposition, or se. Read the full dictionary entry ↗
Meanings and simple conjugation forms adapted from English Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki.org / Wiktextract. Passé composé forms combine the source auxiliary and past participle. Frequency scores from wordfreq 3.1.1 by Robyn Speer and contributors. Adapted data is available under CC BY-SA 4.0. Entry source · Sources, download & limitations